r/cubing

I have taken a long break from cubing but now getting back into it I want to actually improve instead of just doing solves. I have made a video of a recent 10.30 average I did and I have identified some of my weaknesses with my turn accuracy/fluidity being one of them. I have heard people say that doing slow solves with accurate turning and slowly improving speed is best but I want to know if there is a more concrete way to fix my problem. (I’m not looking for a get better fast method I just don’t want to waste time on something that might not work)

So in the past few days i've added a pb chart, a timer for 4BLD, FTO, and 5BLD, a scramble of the day with a leaderboard of anybody who did the solve, a heatmap on every session of any event u complete, a 3-D visualisation of any NxN cube when scrambled, and a reference solution using cfop on the 3x3 to my website. I'd like to know if there is something someone would add, and if someone has already visited my website I would love to know if it's any better! https://cuberacetimer.lovable.app/

A mobile video truck outside the North American Championship displayed messages urging the WCA to keep Clock as an official event.

The truck showed several rotating messages, including “WCA: Turn Back the Clock,” “Keep WCA Fun! Save Clock,” and “The Community Has Spoken. Will WCA Listen?” The displays also included a QR code linking viewers to a petition calling for Clock to be reinstated.

It is not yet clear whether the WCA will revisit the decision. For now, the truck outside NAC shows that the effort to keep Clock official has moved beyond online discussion and into a public campaign at one of the largest competitions of the year.

Source: speedcubingdigest

Got this bottle of lube a few years back when purchased a 7x7 online. Can’t rmb where but should I use it?

Cubes

3x3: weilong v11 dragon edition

4x4: picube aosu v7 matte

I'm pretty sure this is unsolvable please help me fix it i think i switched some edge pieces

I made a GAN 16 Themed wallpaper since I was bored. Don't know if you need it or not.

(TLDR at the end)

also i promise this post isnt a bot or AI assisted or whatever. i just suck at writing and have no style whatsoever lmao

With the recent news coming out of the WCA, there's been a LOT of discussion regarding the decisions made by the WCA, the role of the community in making those decisions, the direction the community is heading in, etc. I think a really interesting divide has been set regarding whether or not cubing should be pushed as a hypercompetitive, spectator-oriented sport.

On the most recent episode of The Millisecond Podcast -which is a podcast hosted by Dylan Miller and Chris Mills, two highly competitive cubers in the community- they mostly follow the idea that cubing and the WCA should head towards hypercompetition and spectator friendliness. Their producer, Matthew Mayernik, also largely agrees. It makes sense that these three largely push for this idea of cubing, as Dylan and Chris are top-level competitors, and Matthew is a media guy working for SpeedcubingTV.

Dylan takes the most particularly strong stance on the matter. He says that the WCA is "trying to be the arbiter for the sport of speedcubing." He also believes that the WCA will inevitably cut down most events, and will lead to a "final" event roster of 2x2-5x5, OH, pyraminx, and 3BLD, which is less than half of the current event list. His reasoning is that those events are the most spectator friendly and are the most skill expressive. Lots of his reasoning for generally disliking clock is because it's a low skill-expressive event, calling it a "braindead turn event." The other two on the podcast episode generally agree, but their rhetoric and reasoning are generally much less intense. Basically, it makes sense that a podcast with high-level competitors and broadcasters want to push for the commercialization and sportification of cubing.

On the complete opposite hand of the argument lies folks like Livia Kleiner and Elijah Rain Phelps, who have both made shorter rant videos on the topic. They both vehemently and fundamentally disagree with the notion that cubing is fit to be a widely commercialized spectator sport. They both make the point that the only people actually spectating cubing as a sport are other cubers, and not people from outside of the community. Additionally, unlike every other sport, cubers pay TO compete, and are not payed to compete. Spectators do not buy tickets and put money into simply watching the events like with other sports as well. They both reason that cubing as a sport simply is not ever going to be big or interesting enough to non-cubers to warrant this push towards commercialization and sportification. There's a lot of frustration in their videos when talking about how the WCA seemingly wants to push to appease this seemingly non-existent group of non-cuber spectators, while also not making strides to make the experience better for the competitors themselves. The next couple paragraphs are just going to be quotes from the two so feel free to skip if you've seen the vids lol.

Elijah says, "We should be able to enjoy [competitions] without it being interrupted by a livestream with the worst fucking commentators known to man." He continues with "The reality of it is, like, cubing is a hobby. Cubing will never be a sport. I don't care how many viewers you got on a livestream. I don't care what formats are introduced." He finally goes, "[Cubing] is an expression outlet. It's nothing more than that. It won't be more than that. I hate when people try to make it more than that."

In Livia's video, she goes "There's this idea that in order to grow cubing, it needs to become a spectator sport, and I completely disagree with this... It just feels like [the WCA] is trying to force speedcubing to be something that it's not. Because ultimately, it's not a sport. It's just a fun hobby that people like to participate in. It's not going to be a big thing. It's just a niche community and it's not that serious."

It's also important to note that Elijah is a former WR single holder in SQ-1 and other top level experienced competitors like Brendyn Dunagan also push back against this sportification, so it's not simply a matter of pros vs everyone else.

For me personally (skip if u dont care for some randos opinion lol), I've never really cared about the competitiveness in cubing. Sure, I think it's really cool to watch world records and big majors or whatever but I have never once thought "this stuff really needs to be pushed as a proper sport" or anything like that. Cubing for me is just something I do cause I think it's fun and satisfying. I've never been interested in grinding to get X amount of podiums/medals/whatever. I definitely agree more with the side that Livia and Elijah takes in this. I also kinda hate the current head-to-head format and think it's cringe but that's a side thing lol

I think it's insanely interesting that the removal of clock has seemingly been the catalyst for the complete boiling over in the whole "is cubing a sport" debate. I am REALLY interested in hearing what you all think of this topic. Do you guys think that the WCA (and cubing as a whole) should push towards being a proper sport? Should it remain a hobby that people do for fun? Should it prioritize competitors or spectators? Please please please leave your thoughts I'm seriously really curious to hear what people think.

TLDR: The WCA's decision to remove clock has ignited broader conversations about where the future of the activity should be entirely. People like Dylan Miller, Chris Mills, and Mathew Mayernik generally have more skin in the game for the sports aspect, so they (generally) believe that cubing should push towards commercialization and being a proper sport. Other folks like Livia Kleiner, Elijah Rain Phelps, and Brendyn Dunagan believe that cubing at its core is a hobby and an outlet to meet others and for self expression, and think the WCA is making a mistake by pushing for more sportification. What do y'all think about it? Should cubing (and the WCA by extension) head towards spectator sportification or should it remain more about the cubers themselves?

I was just cubing after church when I zoned out and got this scramble which has a pretty easy cross, a couple free pairs, and a LL skip. My previous best was 10.012 and I had a total of 10 solves under 10.5. The really bad thing is I mis-scrambled very slightly and I can't seem to get it back to how it was (there were still red and blue edges solved, but the orange and green were in a different position to do a 4 move easy cross). Because of this I don't have a reconstruction, but I think it is an insane time for my first sub 10, but the trend is continuing because my first sub 30 was a 22, first sub 20 was a 14, and now my first sub 10 is a 7.7. Lastly if anyone wanted to know I use the app Last Cube X - Highly recommend. EDIT: SORRY FOR THE TITLE MISTAKE (7.794)

The biggest minx I’ve done was a 5x5 years ago ughhhhh I’ve gotten rusty and took on my biggest challenge whats wrong with me